Why Google’s Larry Page is the best CEO in America

Managers the world over may boast of being the “World’s Best Boss” on cheesy mugs and desktop gag pieces, but in the case of Google’s Larry Page or Nike’s Mark Parker, the claim wouldn’t be hyperbole.

That’s according to a recent report from online jobs forum Glassdoor, which ranks the top fifty CEOs based entirely on what employees think of the job they are doing. The website calculated the list using an algorithm that pulls feedback aimed at a company’s top boss from the site’s thousands of employee reviews.

“This ranking comes directly from employees,” Scott Dobroski, Glassdoor’s career trends analyst, told The Huffington Post. “It’s according to the people who really know their CEOs best.”

Page, who topped the list with a 97 percent approval rating, rose from 11th place last year. Dobroski told HuffPost that employee commentary from the survey highlighted two big reasons why the Google chief now holds the top spot.

For one thing, Google employees respected Page’s level of accessibility over the past year. “He showed face at more employee events,” Dobroski said, adding that Page also “acted on the same level as other employees.”

Googlers also seemed to appreciate company-issued benefits, specifically those that supported the needs of families. “We saw Google employees talking about benefits coming from within,” Dobroski said. “For example, the company increased the length of paternity leave to the same amount as maternity leave.”

And, of course, it probably doesn’t hurt that Google’s employees receive some of the best compensation and perks in the tech industry. The company also enjoys high employee retention.

Treating workers well has shown to be good for companies’ profits. In March, Fortune magazine released its annual list of the 100 best companies to work for, noting that those businesses didn’t just offer great pay, benefits and perks, but also that they outperformed the S&P 500 stock index by a ratio of almost two to one since 1998. And guess who was number one on that list? That’s right: Google.

Page and Parker both clocked in at a 97% approval rating to top the list. That’s a big jump for Page from last year, when he occupied the number 11 spot with a 93% score, and an even a bigger one for Parker, who didn’t crack the top 50.

“You’ll see Larry and Sergey at TGIF and you’ll admire how they lead the company. They are brilliant, goofy, low key but intense, and likeable,” one unnamed Google employee wrote on the jobs website.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, who took the crown last year, fell to number 12 with a 7% drop in his previously spotless approval rating.

T-Mobile’s outspoken CEO John Legere made a grand entrance to the list, taking the number 14 spot for his first time on the board. Other newcomers include Chevron’s John Watson at number 16 and Airbnb’s Brian Cheskey at 48.

Maybe because of all the famously extravagant office perks, tech CEOs were some of the most well-liked of the bunch, grabbing up 15 of the 50 top spots. The retail industry also boasted a strong showing with seven execs on the board.

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